Sunday 27th:As they were walking on the road to Emmaus....

We are entering the 'pack it up and get ready to go phase' which is not just tinged but slathered with sadness. We commenced today by talking about our preparations to go home, and the fact that we were now pilgrims and disciples: planning how to go back and take what we have learned to our home communities. Raphael, our guide, talked about pilgrimage as using the scripture text as a door, through which we walk to our own worlds. Today was a magnificent day: we visited the road to Emmaus (two of the three possible sites!) with the first road being what our guide considers the 'authentic' one, the Roman road remains, upon which we walked and 're-enacted' the Gospel; and the second being not so authentic but gob smackingly gorgeous: a Benedictine church built in the 12th century by the crusaders, and all still standing. Raphael's 'take' on the multiple sites was fabulous: he said that we are a perambulatory church: that our holy places move because our hearts move, and that when our sources (texts) differ, and therefore the places referred to differ, it allows us to appreciate the message of the scripture even more, rather than getting attached to one place which may or not be authentic.

I spent some time sitting in a little dark corner on the stone floor of the crypt of the Abu Ghosh church and contemplating the meaning of life....which is basically that life is good!! We followed that by attending the Abbey's mass, complete with singing nuns and monks (who are famous for their music world wide, in the gregorian chant style) and celebrated in both French and Latin. It was a little bit of heaven on earth; very moving with LOTS of singing parts: The whole mass went for a bit over an hour and a half, but time flew. I was actually sitting with my back against a stone crusader wall (I'm a bit into feeling the surroundings, to remind myself i am really there...) with my eyes closed soaking up the music when I realised that I was dreaming (ie: really dreaming, asleep!) I think I sort of drifted in and out a bit, swept along by the music which really was something else.

We had a free couple of hours this afternoon, on returning from Abu Ghosh, and so I went wandering in the market place which is a bit like 'shopping endurance sport'. I might have told you already about the antics that go on with the shopkeepers here: it is something I will not miss. By the time you've walked a few alleyways, or the Via Dolorosa, which is of course the 'main drag' of shopping in many ways, you are completely exhausted , and weary of the men stepping out in the path and blocking your way saying combinations of the following phrases: "Come into my shop. Just one minute, just look, no need to buy. Where you from? Are you American?" or WORSE: "you told me the other day you'd come back to my shop. you must come in NOW" (which happened today, dammit)

Tonight we 'bookended' the day with another cultural experience: A concert down the street at the Austrian Hospice to launch a festival called 'Sounding Jerusalem' which is a chamber music festival. A few of us went and it was just beautiful. Lovely lovely music, with Armenian, Jewish, Spanish, Arabic tunes or themes to the tunes, and some Bach thrown in. It was a bit of a head spinner: sitting with mainly Austrians (and a couple of Australians!), listening to music played by Europeans and Jews in the Muslim quarter of J'rem. Woke me up good and proper (must have been all that sleeping in mass this morning!) so that I could come down and do some typing for the first time in a while.

I had to give my reaction to the experience yesterday on a video tape to go to Rome for the chapter meeting of the Sion sisters, and the more I thought about it the more I realised that this has really been an immersion experience, plus scripture study, which means that I have 30 days x 24 hours worth of new experiences under my belt. (given that I haven't slept a lot I'm not even going to count the day as any shorter than 24 hrs!) This blog has captured some of the experience for me, but I wish I had managed to keep it more faithfully!! There are a few gaps, alas.

On the homeward stretch now: won't be long until I am facing cold weather again. I will miss much of the life here, but I won't miss having to carry a 1.5L water bottle around with me all day! Or dodging market men....

Sunday 20 June

Written later...reflecting on the experience from Australia....

Gemma's birthday dawned, and I don't know whether I've ever seen quite as much of her birthday, apart from the original day 17 years ago! We had a lovely gathering at the Austrian Hospice on the previous night celebrating one of the Ecce Homo-ians birthdays. We sat in the garden under the fairy lights in the trees and soaked up the cool breeze, singing songs from various musicals including The Sound of Music.

This morning's mission was to go to Notre Dame for mass, as Ariel, one of our group, was going to concelebrate mass. Notre Dame is a huge basilica, it is where we first arrived in our taxi from the airport, and where the Pope stays when he is in town. So, a few of us walked together to 9am mass. The mass itself was quite beautiful, and again full of surprises. We were 'guests' at a wedding -an older couple, one of whom's daughter works in Gaza, were married in the middle of the mass. I was asked when we arrived if I'd do a reading, and accepted the honour. I truly wished I had been a little more dressed up: my travelling sandshoes and crumpled cotton didn't quite seem up to the occasion, but I read as well as I could and hoped that made up for it!

We had coffee on the coffee shop verandah, together with Jim and Loris from Berwick, who have been volunteering at Ecce Homo for the past three months. I collected some sugar packets marked with the Vatican logo, to give to my colleagues back home, who would no doubt benefit greatly from some particularly holy sugar (!) and then we went our separate ways for our 'sunday off'. Peggy and I hit Ben Yehuda street, lunch at a bagel shop, enjoying the music in the mall, and buying up big on Jewish paraphernalia. It was a lovely atmosphere: and gave us a break from the 'serious', and cut throat, shopping of the souq. The interesting thing we noted though was that in the space of about five minutes we saw about five people begging for money: and that is a sight that we haven't seen a lot in the old city. Yet another piece in the puzzle....

Sat 19 Jericho: Mountains and Wadis

In short (I must be tired...!) Jericho today, leaving at the unfriendly time of 6.30 from reception, which necessitated a 4.45 start. Not good after the 3.20 call to prayer...will I ever get used to that????
Everyone kept telling us it would be hot in Jericho, but no one (not even the guide, Elias) had EVER experienced it as hot as it was today....they kept saying high 40s. I have no idea whether that was the case, but it was so hot we were melting.

We began our day with the walk to the bus: always a fun beginning (that is after we have packed our lunches- not today, we're having lunch in a restaurant! whoo hoo.... and filled water bottles and made sure our ear pieces and walkey talkey things are ready to go...then you have to add the bible, a notebook, a hat, sunscreen, sunglasses, and if you are particularly fussy, a roll of toilet paper: the pilgrim's essential survival pack!) We usually walk down the Via Dolorosa, out Lions Gate and through to the bus which waits outside the old city walls. Our bus is pink, very stylish, and we take our seats and run through the whole 'Check your buddy' routine, to make sure we haven't left anyone behind. An important safety tip, and usually fool proof, unless BOTH buddies are missing!

Upon reflection...(added later)
Our day began with a surprise experience: I had seen someone's photos of Wadi Kelt, back in Australia, and oohed and aahed over them, but I hadn't expected the sheer beauty of the place. It is one of life's little lessons that magic happens in the most unexpected times and places. Our drive in the bus took us to somewhere which looked like 'the middle of nowhere in the middle east'; sandy coloured sand and stones...the sort that looks deceptively like there is nothing there. We scrambled up a hill for our morning reflection, being followed quite closely by people keen for us to buy some beads, bracelets or necklaces. When we got to the sitting area, directly opposite the most majestic vista of Wadi Kelt, it was to find that the merchants were ready and waiting for us, with their wares laid out on tables right in front of the view. My first thought was frustration and annoyance: that we were there to listen, learn, experience and reflect, but along the way somehow I began to realise that this was life. For these people, who obviously relied on tourists for their living, Wadi Kelt was their business; not just my reflective space.

The experience had many layers: we gazed out at the hills, watching the shade shift across them as the rays of the sun got stronger, and were invited to walk off to spend some time by ourselves in reflection. I tried to walk somewhere a bit isolated, where I could look at the desert uninterrupted, and for a while I did. This time I was able to still my mind more successfully than at the Nahal Tselim Canyon (the night in the desert), and as I looked at the hills and what seemed to be emptiness, I saw more and more detail; plant life, the change in the colours of the sand etc, and could identify valleys. It was a bit of a revelation; that the desert was filled with life, that was just waiting to be recognized. My reveried didn't last all that long however, the silence was broken by a group of students and their very American-accented teacher, who chose the 'quiet side' of the hill for his open air lecture. Once again I found myself thinking 'the best laid plans...'. It is so true that you can't manipulate life to get what you want; even in the desert it is hard to be still.

From Wadi Kelt (remember the little boy who was lying on top of the stone wall, rolling around while Elias spoke to us about the place? His face was screaming 'Hurry up and let them start shopping!') we went to Jericho. Along the way we passed the site of the Inn of the Good Samaritan, and the enormity of what it would mean to 'walk down from Jerusalem to Jericho' was very clear: nothing has become clearer than the whole 'desert hospitality' thing and the need to look after each other in such a hostile landscape. No wonder it was seen as such a horrendous thing to ignore someone in need; failure to act would mean fairly certain death for the injured one. Our first stop in Jericho was at the coffee stop, where we lined up for a long time to get drinks and where Jenny and I bought some sycamore nuts to share. They tasted a little like cashews or ....? Very crunchy and sweet (and turned out to be ideal with baileys).

We then took cable cars up to the Mount of Temptation, to the Monastery of St George. The cable cars were a novelty, although the sign on the window 'Stops half way to unload passengers' was an interesting touch! The monastery itself looked precarious, perched on the side of the cliff face, built directly into the rock. The temperature by now was very hot, and the walk up the many stairs from the cable car was warmish, to say the least. We sat in a sort of cave-like gathering space opposite the monks cells- and fanned ourselves and drank from our trusty water bottles while Elias told us about the place. I can almost guage my level of heat-affectedness by how much I remember from each place: the poor old Monastery of St George is visually etched in my mind, however I can't remember any of the details about it -only what is now in my photos!~

I do remember we went into the Greek Orthodox church/chapel and were able to go up into the upper room which was 'the site' of the temptation of Christ. Once again, marked by a rock which has been surface rubbed by centuries of pilgrims. We also walked out onto the balcony and gazed at the cliff face beside us and the valley below. It was gorgeous in its dramatic starkness.

After our lunch at the Sycamore tree restaurant, during which we were very conscious of what special guests we were, in a place which is not really frequented by visitors now, we visited an incredible Romanian Church which has been constructed and which looks for all the world like an alien, made of glorious pink and creamy marble, landed in the middle of the desert. It was filled with icons: every surface covered with images of saints, including one icon showing the death of Mary, with Jesus nursing her soul, depicted as a little baby. The Romanian Greek Orthodox nuns running the place were christened 'The Audrey Hepburn' nuns by one of our group, as they had beautiful black veils which framed their faces; just like Audrey in whichever film she was in. They also kindly gave us drinks and biscuits: again, the hospitality of the desert, perhaps, before we made our way back to Jerusalem.

Thurs 17 June: Shrine of the Book

This afternoon we took life into our hands and walked out of Damascus gate on a quest to find a taxi to take us to the Museum of Israel, to visit the Shrine of the Book. It was a very very hot afternoon, and I was feeling ok until I got there, then of course felt a bit queasy again, telling me that my starvation diet hadn't really fixed me after all. Or maybe it was the heat....who knows!

The taxi drivers didnt' want to work in the heat either, so gave us a ridiculously high price, enabling us to walk off, heads held high, in search of a better deal. Sure enough, Tim got us a deal in a sharute (no idea of spelling: like a mini bus, 10 seater...)for 15sheqels each, which was a bit of a bargain we thought, especially as the bus had air conditioning!

Cars park here wherever they want, on the kerb, on the side of the road, in the road, wherever there is a spare inch or two of space. So the taxi's exit from the taxi car park could be described as 'interesting', 'challenging', rally driving or just plain skilful. Whichever term you use, we got out of there, and it was nothing short of a sign that miracles do occur in the modern world.

The Shrine of the book: a great place to go on a hot Jerusalem day as it is underground and very very cool, designed to keep the Dead Sea Scrolls and other artifacts well and happy: the spin off for visitors = they remain well and happy, and just a smidge cooler, also. I was grateful to the architect, the planners, the electricians and the government for the thoroughly thoughtful construction! Underneath it looks a little bit like the Jetsons, or a submarine; tunnel type corridors of display cases, leading to a central hall with a few levels, with a 'torah scroll' as the centre piece. The largest fragment of scroll is in fact the Isaiah scroll, and the replica of this is kept in the middle of the circular hall. It is quite awe inspiring: almost as much as the sign at the entrance that says 'Please check your weapons here'.

One of the girls, Mary, organised us all to go out for a group dinner this evening: to a restaurant called 'cynthia's cave', which served us delicious meals and provided us with our own special spot; the whole floor of their restaurant, which was in fact a cave. It was a big deal for the restauranteur: he and his wife came down to chat to us, and I think he may have had to outsource for the quantities of food needed to feed the lot of us (about 29 people went) We had a great relaxing and fun evening...and many many photos were taken, so I'm sure we'll remember it well!

A monument and a name- Yad VaShem

Today we visited Yad VaShem, the memorial to those lost in the Shoah (Holocaust). It is an enormous place, and we were there very early but the crowds were considerable. The Israeli army have an education program for their soldiers, taking them around to significant sites all over the country (which means we have been touring alongside them almost every where we go, which was a little unusual at first and now has become almost disturbingly commonplace) and there were at least three separate groups of soldiers there going on tours, so it was elbow to elbow.

We began with the Children's memorial which is a beautiful place, built to honour those children who died in the Shoah. Their names are recited aloud as you enter a dark circular room, with mirrored surfaces which reflect the flames of little candles which give the impression of stars in the night sky. It was a beautiful, sad place, and I visited it twice to try and honour the lives of those commemorated there.

The atmosphere of the main museum is also amazing, not at all like a normal museum. I think it will take me a while to filter through the experience, but it was not the sort of place where you could chat to anyone...it was more like a silent vigil as you moved through the different sections and displays. The final few rooms, which have been remodelled/rebuilt in 1995, now contain a Hall of Names which is a massive round room, with circular walls lined like library shelves, from the top of the walls to the bottom, with volumes containing the names of those who died, and as much information about them as is available. It is the most incredible sight. and then there is a room which honours those who resisted, as well as the Righteous Among the nations: those within Germany and Poland and from abroad who worked to save the lives of Jews and others during the Holocaust. Schindler's List is displayed here also.

The name Yad Va Shem comes from the book of Isaiah "to them I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial and a name..." and the new emphasis in the museum on the personal stories of people does this, in honouring both the dead and those who survived.

I don't think it would be easy to forget some of the displays; the uniforms of those who lived in the camps, and the glass display case in the floor filled with shoes of those who were imprisoned and probably died. That was one of the most heart breaking sights, noticing all the serviceable, practical working person's shoes, and the occasional glamourous party girl shoe with a 1940s style.

Tues 15 These stones will shout....

Monday was a 'write off' day, as I succumbed to the evils of tummy bugs. I was very responsible and spent most of the day resting, which meant that I missed the journey to Ein Karem, which was a disappointment. The 'Up'side to that was that Ein Karem apparently is lots and lots of hills, so it was fortuitous that I stayed home in bed, feeling miserable, rather than sharing it with my companions. My caring fellow travellers made sure I was ok before they left: i was brought black tea, green tea, dry biscuits (and vegemite to add if I felt like it!) chewing gum and water....so I felt very cared for. Thankfully my starvation diet meant that I recovered fairly quickly in time for a day of stones and ruins on Tuesday.

Tuesday we went for a walk to the Church of St Anne (ie the mother of Mary) which is conveniently at the bottom of the Via Dolorosa. St Anne's church itself is very like the Sacred heart cathedral, except smaller and not as white! It is also a much older church, and has the pools of Bethesda in the grounds, upon which several churches were built ranging from the 3rd century to the 13 or 14th centuries.

The pools of Bethesda themselves were enormous, and were used for the provision of water to the temple site; as well as for providing a place for animals to be ritually cleansed (I think...! Will need to clarify this.) the pools were not intended for use for human cleansing, although that is what they became connected to in the time of Jesus.

At night time (they work us hard here!) we gathered after dinner in the Lithostrotos to hear about the history of the Lithostrotos, as it is connected to the life of Jesus. The basement of the convent is enormous, on several different levels, including a water cistern built by King Herod, but which no longer has any water since the connecting tunnels and cisterns were cleaned out a couple of years ago. The paving stones in the Lithostrotos are likily to have come from the Antonia Fortress, which was across the road from the convent site, and then reused in the making of the basement at Ecce Homo. Some of the stones have markings on them that show they were used for the soldiers' games eg variations of dice games. It is an amazing feeling to be sitting in a place that is effectively '1st century', even though it has had work done to make it tidier and safer since that time.

Sunday 13th June: walking the walls

Sunday seemed like a good day to go wall walking, so after morning mass in the Armenian Catholic church down the road (actually at the third station of the cross...lots of directions here are given by locating the stations, eg turn left at Station 5...which is a giggle when you first hear it!). The Armenian mass was in latin, which was a novelty for me, but the readings and the homily were in English, so it was quite lovely and I didn't feel too out of it. All of this makes me realise the importance of including others in everything we do: we were the foreigners there, but the priest made it his business to make us welcome, even to the point of giving his homily in English, when it wasn't his language. He did a great job, incidentally, and gave a very beautiful homily about our need to seek, and grant forgiveness to each other. AND he shook the hand of every single person in the Church, which also was a nice touch (and made possible by the fact that there weren't too many of us!)

The ramparts walk on the walls of Jerusalem has to be done in two parts, as the section around the Temple mount has been closed for security reasons. We chose to do the Northern Section, which took us from Jaffa Gate around to the east and back in through Lion Gate, which is the gate closest to Ecce Homo and the Via Dolorosa. We took about 2 hours to do it, as one of the girls had a sore foot and needed to go pretty slowly. It was very hot, the limestone is quite unforgiving in the heat and manages to reflect most of the light and heat right back at you, so it was a warm walk and we drank lots of water. It was a great way to view the city though, the old city was mainly roofs and domes, with the occasional back yard and school (one on top of the roofs, with basketball court and soccer oval!!) but it gave a great view of the outlying new city, and a bit more of a sense of the direction of everything. Enjoyed it very much, but would rather have done it on a cooler day or at a cooler time (which around here is really before 8 or after 6, when the walls are closed!)

Saturday 12th, pizza and Gethsemane.

Dear all, apologies that these blog posts are coming thick and fast...it is a matter of when I have time to do it, and today (which is actually Monday) I have stayed back due to not feeling 100% and therefore have unlimited time at the computer!

Saturday I went with Mary and Sandra to see the Dormition church as they hadn't seen it on Friday, and on the way back we decided to get some lunch. We stopped at a little cafe opposite the Zion Gate and were treated to Armenian pizza, flat bread sprinkled with spiced mince meat and grilled like a folded omelette. It came with a home made lemonade (lemon lemon lemon, sugar, sugar, sugar and a little bit of mint) and a salad. It was delicious and we enjoyed every bite.

what was fascinating was meeting the shop owner..she has a PHD in Armenian literature, has just published her sixth book and quit teaching two years ago to set up this shop and live a creative life. She does a lot of craft work and painting and many of the goods in the shop are her creations. It was terrific to talk to her and learn a bit about her life. She lives in the Armenian convent in the Armenian quarter, not quite sure why that is, it seemed impolite to ask. Hopefully her book will be published soon in English and we'll be able to get one...I did have her business card, but I fear I have 'filed' it somewhere....

We arrived back from the pizza lunch (all hot and very sweaty) just in time to go with the others to the Garden of Gethsemane, where Vincent, our resident Franciscan from Phoenix Arizona, said mass for us. The garden can be reached by walking from Ecce Homo, it takes about 10 minutes and involves crossing a very busy road outside the walls, on which we see cars everywhere, and on which the other day we saw someone riding a horse bareback along the road, at full gallop...Only in Jerusalem.

It was very very hot on Saturday afternoon at 3pm, but we found a cool corner of the garden and had mass there. It was quite beautiful. The garden is a lot bigger than I first thought, it is just that there is now a road that goes right through the middle, and they walled it sometime in history, so rather than being a 'paddock' of olive trees it is a walled garden, with some paths in places. We were in one of the 'wilder' areas of the garden, which was easier to imagine as a 1st century Jerusalem space, rather than a historical hotch-potch, so I was pleased. Mass with our group was lovely, and we were aware of how special it was, as we had to apply for special permission to have mass there....which was why we had to squeeze it in among the dashing around.

In the evening, after dinner at Ecce Homo, some of us went for drinks at the Austrian club, which was cool and lovely.

Walk like a tourist....

On Friday 11th, as well as attending lectures, we had a bit of free time in the afternoon so walked up to the Dormition Abbey, just outside the walls of Jerusalem, through Zion Gate. This area was known as Zion by the early christian community, and is the place where the Last Supper is believed to have occured, as well as lots of other gatherings of early Christians.

The Dormition Abbey is a magnificent building, which also houses a great coffee shop and gift shop!, dedicated to the 'Dormition' of Mary, mother of Jesus. There is some confusion (in my mind if nowhere else) about whether Mary in fact 'went to sleep' here or whether she went with Peter (or John?) to Turkey and went to sleep there. I think the reason it is called 'sleep' is because of the belief that Mary was raised body and soul to heaven. None of this of course is recorded in the christian scriptures, hence the discrepancy. No matter whether it is 'the' place or not, the fact of the presence of the early christians at this site is undoubted, and it is a place of quiet and calm in the midst of the bustle of jerusalem, so I LIKED IT! I lit a candle for you all and wrote my intention in the book of intentions which the Franciscans offer each day for mass. I hope it will make a difference to your week, your year or your life.
I also had a great coffee there...

We went to the Upper Room, which is called the Cenacle, the room of the Last Supper, which is up a couple of flights of stairs and is likely to have not been the room at all, given the dates and style of the architecture, but is in the place where it is believed to have happened. When we were there we were treated to a rendition of a particularly lively latin american hymn, with guitars and strident voices, from a touring christian group. You've gotta watch those christians! It was quite noisy and about 150 people were crammed into the space, all jostling for best photo position, but we managed to get in, experience the place, and get out. It was hardly calming and reflective, but it was interesting!

On the way out of the upper room, we passed the tomb of David (ie King David) which was closed due to a reason which was unknown and unannounced...and also a Holocaust room, which was also closed. The funny thing about life in Jerusalem is that the day that most things are open is Sunday, which for us is a twist. Many official places are closed on Saturday, due to Shabbat, and some things are closed for the muslim holy day on Friday. When we go shopping in the souk, some places are closed on Friday, some are closed on Saturday, but many of them are open Sunday, except for those in the Christian quarter, and many of them are open anyway, obviously due to the new Sunday trading laws for Christians world wide! It is remarkable that you need to almost know the religion of a trader in order to know whether he is open (and it is usually 'he', not 'she'....

Keeping Shabbat

Dear all, Thursday 10th was a day mostly of lectures, so not a lot to report there, however we did learn a lot about Shabbat, in order to prepare us for our trip to the synagogue on Friday evening. I was quite excited really, as I have always wanted to see what happens in a synagogue and have never had the chance...Hearing about the purpose of Shabbat though had a big impact on me. It seems that Shabbat is for the Jewish people what Sunday used to be for the Christians: a day of rest. The list of approved and forbidden work is not apparently as important as the reason for the work: ie if something is necessary, life-saving etc then it is approved, but if it takes you away from a day of reflection, rest and thankfulness, then it isn't. An over simplification, but sort of on the right path. Shabbat provides a day where you don't do any emails, work for your job or handle money. You DO spend time in prayer, with your family and basically chilling out...so I am all in favour.

The synagogue we visited was a Reform synagogue, meaning quite progressive and not officially recognised by the ultra-orthodox community. The Rabbi there visits Taize every year on his holidays, and has put the jewish prayers (many of them) to Taize tunes..It was a fantastic event. The room was full of families, and people who so obviously knew each other and cared for each other. I have found out since that they also had three or four separate groups of people visiting that night, and we were all made very welcome.

The prayer book was in Hebrew and also in English, so that we could follow along and sing to our hearts content. It was fabulous. The community all sat and sang, except for one particular moment when they get up to welcome in the Sabbath, and they turn and face the door of the synagogue and bow. Quite beautiful.

Splish splashing in the Dead Sea

After the morning in Ein Gedi on Wednesday, we went to the Dead Sea for a quick dip. Actually you can't really 'dip', you just float. I was a bit nonchalant, didn't really care whether I went in or not but decided 'what the heck' in the end and went in. It was fabulous! the water itself is lovely and bath temp warm, and a beautiful aquamarine bluey green. And you float and float and float, in fact it is really hard to get your arms and legs to do anything you want....We had a bit of fun trying to form a starfish on the surface, but doing so without kicking anyone in the face was the tricky bit. A bit of hilarious enjoyment for all. getting out is not so much fun, as you end up feeling and smelling slightly like a sardine or similar oily fish...very peculiar sensation, and one i was happy to scrub off in the shower.

We returned home to Jerusalem that afternoon and it was an absolute shock, after the quiet of teh desert, to enter via Damascus gate and have to dodge the hawkers and the sidewalk shopkeepers of the souk to get back to Ecce Homo. I think the desert stillness has quite a bit going for it....

We have met so many people, and they are very friendly and welcoming. I met a lady in a shop the other night who is a teacher of Arabic and she made sure to welcome me here to Jerusalem. The staff here at Ecce Homo are terrific, two of the young kids (maybe early 20s?) who work in the kitchen and serving meals etc have been very friendly and one of them has been trying to teach me Arabic phrases. So far I know how to say: Hello, hurry up (that is a very useful phrase and you hear it all day in the streets), take it a little bit at a time, God willing (which is what is said in answer to a question of when you can expect a job to be done….ie, ‘who knows? One day…’) and a couple of others. Absolutely no idea how to spell anything though, all signage is in Hebrew, Arabic and then tourist signs (Churches, historical places etc) are in English as well.

If you cross the barren desert....

Our journey today was from the Negev to the Judean wilderness, and this was magic. The Judean wilderness is something to be seen to be believed. It is in the Great Rift Valley (the one you can see from the moon, oh how knowledgeable I have become!!!) and it is like being in the Grand Canyon (maybe...seeing as I haven't been in the GC, but that is what I imagine it would be like). The wilderness looks like bare nothing, no soil to be seen, not many plants, just lots of limestone in various stages and crumbly surfaces. The thought of anyone spending significant time out there makes the mind boggle, yet that is what people have done there for thousands of years. I learned about shepherds, and how they are usually female, and wear black, to protect them and so that everyone knows when there is a woman in the area. It is against the law (maybe desert law?) for a solitary man to approach a woman in the desert, unless she is a member of their own family, so in wearing black, the women announce their presence and are protected.



This is kind of like dot to dot about my day....there was so much in the last three days that I will have forgotten pieces ...but maybe they'll come back when I see my photos and can share them with you. We went this morning to Ein Gedi nature reserve, passing the Herodian fortress of Masada on the way...I was dozing on the bus, so was really glad I woke up to see it, as we didn't have time in our schedule to visit it, Our guide Raphael took us on a guided 'saunter' up a hill which turned out to be 'grade 4' difficulty out of a possible 4. It was 9am when we started and the sun was already high in the sky and it was already roasting hot. Anyway, I made my way up what was apparently the most difficult part of the walk, (they told me later) but they gave us options to turn back at a few stages so I took one of the options and chose life! (you’ve gotta know your limitations, Truman). There were about half of the group who did the whole walk and half who did the first one or two sections. The whole walk was four hours up to the top of the reserve…if any of you have done it, you have my unlimited admiration!

To avoid feeling like a quitter, we then went to the Nature reserve and there was another easier walk there to the waterfall, so Bernadette (Sister of Sion) led a few of us up there. it was also up hill, and plenty of steps, but my legs have actually acclimatised to all the steps and hills now and they didn't even hurt. The landscape is phenomenally harsh. No green, except in the Ein Gedi oasis, all almost red sandy rock where we were walking first, and white limestone and flint stone shaley stuff where we walked second (please excuse the geographically imprecise terms!). Very little shade, trees are scrappy and sparse, but manage to scatter a tiny bit of shade which is where you head. We walked to the waterfall which is obviously the swimming hole of choice for every man and his dog around the place, or every tourist, and it was a spot of coolness. We saw a group of orthodox jews having their midday prayer, then unwrapping tefellin and prayer shawls and jumping in one of the pools of water…

If its Tuesday it must be the Negev Desert

Tuesday morning we left at some ungodly hour (6am? Can’t remember) to drive to the Desert for our wilderness experience, and what an experience. Again, difficult to capture in words, but we went first to the Negev desert, drove through it for a while, then went to the place we were staying, which is a Bedouin hospitality centre. It has been set up for education purposes, to try and educate young Israelis and world tourists about the Bedouin culture which is seriously in danger of disappearing off the face of the earth. The Bedouins are no longer able to wander and be nomadic here, they are now settled in one place, (although in the Sinai, they are still nomads) however the hospitality centre is trying to keep the culture alive. We had a traditional Bedouin welcome, 3 cups of coffee, one to welcome, one to say 'I protect you my guest' and one for fun!...sat around a fire on which our tea and coffee were being made, ate Bedouin food, listened to Bedouin music, (provided by a Bedouin named Muhammad who is doing his PHD in Bedouin music! Expect to hear more of this….I bought his CD!) and slept (in name only) in a fantastic big circular tent.

One of the features of our desert experience was of course to pray, both together and individually, our guide Raphael is a biblical scholar and Indiana Jones type figure (I am not kidding….he even wears an Indiana hat), and he gives us reflections based on desert spirituality and the psalms etc as we are getting to the places in which they were written. There is something quite incredible about reading these scriptural passages in these places, and being able to look around at the scenes described in documents written so long ago. We had a time where for 45 mins we went off by ourselves up on a mountain top overlooking the Negev. It was beautiful, incredibly wild and windy and miles and miles of what seems to be ‘nothingness’ but which is so beautiful.


40 people in a Bedouin tent is an experience everyone should have in their lives. That is all I will say...except that at one point, around 2 or 3am I decided that the desert at night was a beautiful quiet place, and the tent wasn't. At one point late in the evening we found ourselves singing through all the 'desert' hymns we knew...with a few extra old favourites thrown in for good measure. I found myself giggling at the incongruity of it all....Kumbaya, for example...and we realised next day that we completely forgot to sing 'Rock my soul'...! At 5am we were all up and getting ready to go again. Breakfast was like dinner.. all manner of dips, breads, salad, fresh vegetables, Arabic coffee (with cardomam) and sweet (really really sweet) tea...but with breakfast cereal and fried eggs added. It was a feast.


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O Come All Ye Faithful

On Monday we went to Bethlehem. All I could think of the whole way there was 'clip clop clip clop walk on to Bethlehem' etc (Michael Mangan…kids’ Christmas carol, if you’re unsure!)...which stuck in my head. The reality of Bethlehem itself was however V different. Not really sure yet of the impact it has had on me, but our day was so varied and full of contrasts, beginning with the difficulty it can be to get into the place. As it turned out, we had no difficulty at all on the way in, slightly different on the way back when we had a passport inspection on the bus which was a little unusual for us, but all was well. The child (who looked like a year 8) inspecting the passports was chewing chewy…one of the other teachers said he was so tempted to tell her to take her gum out. But she had a big machine gun and we were all behaving ourselves, so he didn’t. Two soldiers get on, one stands watching and scanning while the other checks the documents. Quite awe inspiring really, [she says, pretending it didn’t bother her when in fact it did….]



The first thing we did in Bethlehem was celebrate mass together at the church in Shepherds Fields, you guessed it, where the 'shepherds watched'. In Bethlehem you can only say the masses for Christmas, (and at the Church of the Resurrection in Jerusalem you can only use the mass for Easter…) so we celebrated Christmas, and for us Australians it was quite normal to have the heat. Some of the others found it a bit strange and said they missed the snow. I got a bit overwhelmed when we sang ‘O come ye to Bethlehem’ and looked around me to see that is where we were….it is quite hard to believe some times. Mass was celebrated by David, a priest from Qld. who is the 'man of the match' as far as I am concerned. He is the one who always goes to the back of the group and makes sure everyone is ok, he's usually walking not far behind me, as I am never in the front! So we sang Christmas carols and celebrated together, and it really felt like we were a community, which really we are. There are 37 of us here in the biblical program, from 12 different countries. The Diocese of Sale contingent is the largest,…there are nine of us.



The rest of the day in Bethlehem was full of contrasts and challenges. We visited the Franciscan Family Centre, where the sisters support Palestinian Christian families, and which I will tell you about in person when I get home. It is the most practical, empowering supportive agency you could imagine, and their work is absolutely awe inspiring.

Bethlehem town is very saddening…every time we walked from point A to point B we were pursued by little boys, the youngest looked about 3 and the oldest about 7. They were selling postcards and asking for money, but the ‘elders’ warned us not to give them money as they should have been at school, and were trying to make cigarette money. It was a bit difficult to try and ignore them when they walked up to me and put their little hands right in front of my face to ask for money…but I did what I was told and tried to harden my heart….

Sunday wanderings through time

This morning we met our guide at 7.15am to walk to the Temple Mount, one of the most sacred sites in the world (at least according to the traditions of Judaism, Christianity and the current tenants, Islam.) After seeing the Dome of the Rock in books for years, and teaching about it to students, it was a wonderful feeling to ascend onto the platform, and to feel the place as a living, breathing part of so much of the history of these three religious traditions. It is a beautiful place, with places of shade created for the people to sit, to gather and to pray. The story of the construction of the Dome, which we are not allowed to enter at the present time, and the Al Aqsa mosque, at the other end of the Temple Mount, are really interesting, but I need to read up on my history to get the facts straight before I share them with you. I found so much interesting about this place, not the least being the beautiful mosaic surrounding the Dome. As one of my fellow pilgrims suggested, it seems so much more beautiful because around us were group of Muslims gathering in discussion and prayer. It is a place which is not just historically beautiful, but which is living and breathing. The Dome of the Rock marks the place for Jews and Christians where Abraham was ready to sacrifice Isaac, and for Muslims it is the place from where Muhammad ascended into heaven during his night flight.

Coming down from the Mount, we went on a tour of the tunnels underneath/alongside the Western Wall, which was absolutely fascinating, and which brought us back to Ecce Homo, but underground. We were all surprised when the guide told us we were in an underground cistern, which was one brick wall away from the convent. Underneath the plaza of the Western Wall, and the Muslim quarter, the wall continues, and we followed it for a kilometre or so I think. The stones of the wall bear the marks of Herod, who insisted that his buildings be constructed using a signature 'stone' mark: eachstone was carved with a border, or a frame around it. So it is easy to see whether stones date from the Herodian period. (Amazing what you learn early on a Sunday morning in Jerusalem!) During our tour we passed through a tiny tiny room filled with Jewish women praying. It is considered to be the room closest to the original Holy of Holies; the dwelling place of God in the temple. It was not just interesting, it was quite moving to be there and totry and understand how they viewed this place. Orthodox Jews are not permitted to access the Temple Mount these days, as they fear that they may accidentally walk over the place of the Holy of Holies; as no one has an exact placement of where it would have been situated. I'll continue this later.

Saturday night fever

This blogging thing is addictive! I'm quite enjoying myself...hope all you avid readers are too. Today was a lovely day in Jerusalem, we spent it doing some biblical stuff with our guest speaker from Canada, who is a lovely, learned and gentle man. Quite heavy reading and thinking, but very interesting, all about linguistics and evidence of authorship of biblical texts etc. After a fantastic lunch of falafel and hummus and tabouleh (or similar) I headed off by myself for a little shopping trip down the street to the pharmacy. Managed to purchase what I needed with a little sign language and the pharmacy girl's patience!

Later a whole group of us went by taxis to the Mount of Olives and spent a couple of hours viewing the churches up there, and visiting the garden of Gethsemane. YAY! Now I will be able to use that photo that we found. It was a fascinating afternoon, as some of the churches up there are Catholic, some Greek orthodox and all visited by millions of pilgrims for various reasons. We went to the Church of the Patre Nostre, which was absolutely beautiful, and had the Our Father in lots of different languages, done in tiles. It reminded me of a spanish type church, it had a garden in the middle and was paved. All it needed was mudbrick and it would have looked like it was in Mexico or California. My other favourite was next to Gethsemane: the Church of All Nations. It was really beautiful and quite moving.

Must go. we have mass this evening in the Basilica at Ecce Homo, and then later we are going (hopefully) to a light show which is shown on the walls of the Citadel, depicting the history of Jerusalem.

Shalom Shabbat!

Yesterday we had a heavy day of talks, and I was very tired due to a sleepless night the night before (I mentioned the arabic coffee...say no more). So I used the day as a bit of a rest, had a sleep in the afternoon and generally just chilled out, which was easier as the temperature had dropped and it was sunny but not hot. At about 5pm we went as a group to the Western wall, to view it pre-Shabbat (Sabbath), which started at sundown, about 7pm. There were lots of people there, and armed with our knowledge of wall-etiquette, we approached the wall this time and had a moment of prayer. It is very moving, particularly when you see the millions of little prayers and petitions on slips of paper that people post into the cracks of the stones. Everyone around is focused on prayer, so it is important not to be too overtly 'touristy'. The variety of people is still ovewhelming, from orthodox Jewish to obviously American Jewish, however at the Wall it is certainly a place of coming together, rather than focusing on division.

After dinner we decided to go back to the Wall, to see what Shabbat was like. Immediately the difference was obvious, and we noticed it as soon as we turned from the Via Dolorosa into the adjoining street, which leads to the Western Wall plaza (about 6 minutes walk at a brisk pace) There were hundreds (probably thousands) of people in all kinds of Jewish dress, walking as family groups and groups of young men and women, all dressed up, coming towards us. Imagine the crowds leaving the MCG or other venue after a game, and you get the idea. When we reached the plaza , which is accessible via a security check point, it was like Moomba. Thousands of people everywhere, and the plaza, although the crowd was obviously thinning, was still packed. The women's section was emptier than the mens, but there were still crowds of people, families, friends, soldiers, all gathering for a chat and in some cases a sing. The men's area was the most incredible to watch. Men with black hats, furry hats, tall hats, or yarmulkah (skull caps) all milling around together, some standing at the wall praying, others dancing in long conga-line type formation, others gathered around tables specially prepared (with velvet embroidered cloths )for the occasion and studying in groups. The men were wearing the clothing which generally indicates their area of origin ie Russian, Lithuanian, Ethiopian etc. I don't know what each means, but I am starting to recognise the differences.

We met an interesting Orthodox Jew from Pennsylvania; he lectures at the university there and had brought a group of students. He explained to us about the furry hats, and the earlocks which some orthodox jews wear (the Hasidim) and why they had originally developed as a response of Polish peasants to the oppression of their Jewish community by the Czar. they decided their best 'comeback' was to be as obviously jewish as possible, hence the distinct earlocks etc. It was fascinating. Their furry hats they made out of the backside of beavers (? or some animal...) in imitation of the Czar's own hat....as an act of rebellion to the Czar himself. Cheeky hey?! The whole plaza had an air of celebration, even the soldiers looked relaxed and were dancing, complete with machine guns slung over their shoulders. We were wished 'Shalom Shabbat' and decided we'd come back next Shabbat. Truly an experience of a lifetime. Will try to find an image to show you something of what i am describing....Did I mention the soldier carrying the blue balloon?....
Shalom Shabbat!

Shop til you drop

I've done some wandering in the souk (marketplaces) around here. They are rabbit warrens, and very loud and busy. We tried the other night to get to the Church of the Resurrection, but managed to take a few wrong turns and did quite a lot of souk window shopping (which is funny, as they don't have windows!) They are all just small shop openings in stone buildings, but when they are closing they shut their big wooden or metal shutter doors . The shop keepers are all very keen to have our custom...yesterday one of them tried to sell vestments to one of the priests in our group, telling him that the Pope had bought his vestments there also! We somehow doubted it, as the vestments were a little lower in quality than those that I think the Pope is used to, but maybe it was his little bit towards creating peace in the land. Who knows!

Favourite sights in the souk include one part where I walked past a carcass of a sheep in one window, opposite a window full of 'skater' gear, next to a shop selling big trays of heaped spices, and a lolly shop, where all kinds of lollies, including turkish delight, were in big open baskets.Very colourful, We also stopped inside a very little shop and had some authentic coffee, with cardomam. I think it was responsible for my sleepless night.. The image here is of a little shop in the via dolorosa, directly opposite the Ecce Homo convent. I was in there yesterday talking to the man who was offering me amazing discounts due to his friendship with the Sisters. You can see the arch in the image which is part of a bigger triple arch, (Hadrian's arch) one of which is inside the Basilica of Ecce Homo.

Friday in Jerusalem

Here I am again. now that I've worked out how to read Arabic (!) there is no stopping me. Friday in Jerusalem today, and it is all happening. The call to prayer this morning was a special one for Friday, which meant that it went for a long time, but was beautiful. I hadn't slept well before that so I was actually just dropping off to sleep...The Dome of the Rock is a busy place today, with lots of people coming and going, and later apparently the streets will be busy with people doing their last minute preparations for Shabbat. Somewhere in the mix of all that, the Christians will begin the stations of the cross, which take place in the street outside us, and go up to the church of the Resurrection (also called the Church of the Holy Sepulchre). Talk about interfaith relations.

The image is of the view that I see from my window, from the terrace of the convent. The golden dome is the Dome of the Rock, situated on the Temple Mount, an important site for Muslims, and also for Jews and Christians.

We are seeing some amazing things, and not just 'feature attractions or special holy places'. Just the day to day life of the place is interesting enough. So many different people and different cultures. Yesterday we went outside the walls again, to get some money from the nearest ATM, about 15 mins walk away. The city outside the walls is very different from the city inside: much more like the scenes that you might see on TV. We are constantly amazed at the number of kids around...they are everywhere and at all hours of the day. No such thing as bubble wrap kids in Jerusalem. I think it is very much a neigborhood job to look after the kids, and maybe everyone just knows everyone else. The population of the old city is only about 25,000 people, I think, so it is a bit like a country town, with multiple languages and faiths. So the kids are happy running through the street, asking us our names, and riding their bikes right through the middle of the tourists.

I shall write about the church of the resurrection another time. It was such an interesting experience, it deserves a post of its own!

Made it!

Well, sometimes life not only gives you lemons, it takes the lemon peeler off you and says 'Solve this!' I have just spent a frustrating half an hour or so trying to work out how to get an English screen instead of an Arabic one...not that I mind Arabic, but it is a little hard for me to read. I hope to maybe learn a word or two...today I learnt the word for a type of yoghurt and a dukka-like spice mix that I had for breakfast...very delicious even if the green colour was a little awe-inspiring for breakfast! Sadly, now I can't remember the words!

I have been here now for nearly three days, and in some ways while I feel like we just got here in others, it feels like we've been here for weeks. The days have been really full, and although I've been going to bed fairly early, I am up awake after 3.30 am Islamic call to prayer. The Dome of the Rock is right in front of me, and the muezzin's voice is amplified nicely by some very powerful speakers. I actually don't mind...the call itself is quite calming and beautiful, and I am enjoying waking early, in what is the coolest and most peaceful time of the day.

Jerusalem, the old city where we are, is like a whole lot of little laneways, except that some of them open out into important spaces, and others end up in tunnel type places. The streets are all paved with very very old stones, and they are so worn that they are quite slippery...even in sandshoes or good sandals, I went for a bit of a skate down the front steps of Ecce Homo the other day, but someone grabbed my arm before I hit the deck, thankfully.

Yesterday was my first day of really 'touring' the city. Accompanied by a guide, who is a New Testament scholar, we walked from the Mount of Olives outside the old city walls of Jerusalem, along the Kidron valley and into the city through the Zion Gate. The walk was basically following the path of Jesus from the garden of Gethsemane (which we didn't vist yesterday) through to his appearance at the house of Caiphas. There are two houses of Caiphas apparently...so the site is contested, both of them are up near the old city walls; the area which is now known as Mt Zion.

The day yesterday was really hot, and we walked for quite a while. Once we reached the city walls, we entered via the Zion gate and walked through the Jewish quarter and then the Christian quarter through to the Muslim quarter. There are no deliniations, but the signage changes a little, and the predominant clothing changes as you move from one neighborhood to the next. Everyone is most keen to sell something....and there are plenty of eyecatching displays, but I haven't 'gone shopping' yet. I think I 'll wait until I feel a little more like I know the place.

Day One

It's been a day filled with last minute preparations, but it feels like all of the little coloured squares are lining up (Rubiks cube metaphor there) and tomorrow I'll be on my way. These are not my legs (on the right) but I do have a groovy pair of sandals which are eerily similar to these. I think there's a good reason why they call them "Jesus sandals", but mine are purple. Jesus would never have been so lucky.